Day 43.

It has been 43 days since i first arrived in Adelaide.

Today i was having one of my emo moods again in the morning.

No this isnt a love story, ill leave that topic for now. Its about my decisions for the future. I have been thinking alot lately about what im going to do after next year. I have always wanted to do medicine and would be my ultimate dream to be accepted into a graduate programme.

But the thing is, I dont feel i have enough brain juice to do it. I have always doubted myself in this aspect. Im struggling for this final year in biomed doing double majors. And i suppose it will only get harder in med school, that is if i can get in.

Then theres the issue about the amount of time i spend, graduating only at the age of 25/26. Ill be 3 years behind my friends. Then theres the expenses etc etc.

Most importantly, theres the admittance process, in which i need a degree of good quality(second upper or better), high GAMSAT scores, interviews etc, and a very illustrious cv of which my greatest achievement was probably......oh wait , i have NONE.

So as i was thinking about all of this on my morning bus ride to uni with my characteristic blank stare into nothing.(besides checking out the cute girl a few seats infront of me ocassionaly. She super jual mahal and smokes . What a turn off. )

ok back to the story...

As the bus approached one of its popular stops on the north terrace, near the convention centre and casino, an elderly man came abroad.

Instinctively i asked him wheather he wanted my seat. He politely said no, and told me that he wasnt going far. So i remained seated and continued staring out the window. Suddenly he asked me " So are you off to Uni?"

I said yes. He then asked me what i was studying and i told him biomedicine. He couldnt hear me that well and assumed i was studying medicine.

This were his following words

" Medicine eh? Thats a very good field to go into. Ive been volunteering in the hospital myself for about 13 years. I help out in the food kiosk every wednesday." he told me proudly.

Holy shit, this frail 70plus year old man is a hospital volunteer?? I thought he was going there to be treated, not to serve others!

So i left the bus and the old man feeling not so emo anymore. Its inexplicable, im not sure why. But somehow i was kinda smilling to myself after that short conversation with a random elderly man.

A few minutes later i clocked in for my lab placement in the molecular life science building. Wasnt expecting a good day at all.

Dr Ben left me mostly on my own today, trying to use some of his troubleshooting procedures to save the cDNA batch which i worked 2 weeks to produce, but seemed to not want to replicate in the PCR machine.

So i carried out the procedure, using another template, diffrent buffer, different enzyme yada yada. Let the gel run for a few minutes and processed it in the big computer-UV light thingy next door.

I really was expecting nothing to come up on the screen. Coz everytime im left alone to do stuff i always screw up one way or another.

Lo and behold. An image like Jesus's face on the shroud of turin came up on the screen. And indeed, it was nothing short of a miracle.



To some of you, this would mean absolutely nothing. But to me, those pathethic smudges proved that i have successfully cloned FMR1, FXR1 as well as the FXR2 genes.

You guys may not sense the wow factor in this. So to put this in perspective, we anticipated troubleshooting this part for at least a few weeks, when we nailed it in 2 days.

Hearing the heaps of praises from Ben as well as his marked increase in optimism for this mini project was all that i needed at that point.

Todays experience really lifted me. It started with the random encounter with the old man, and ended with the successful wetwork in the lab. How does this tie to my future?

It just showed me that things dont always go badly. With a little optimism dilligence, a dash of luck ..good things are bound to happen.

So ill just keep my head up, and stride on. Hey, the impossible does happen.

Thanks for reading this meaningless post, till next time, see ya.

Another saturday.

Another week is over, week 4 of the academic calendar is about to start.

Week 3 was kinda hectic with me getting sick on wednesday, missing 2 lectures in the process (thank god for audio recordings.)

hectic because i had to pass up my lab day-book, which seemed rather empty a few days before the due date..there was supposed to be 2 weeks worth of experimental data inside..some things never change :)

Speaking about week 4, i have a big paper on Hepatitis B viral treatment to write -due on week 8, not a single word has been written.

And i have another literature review about my mini project due around then as well.

AND my project is going to Kick off this monday. Havent read the protocols which my supervisor sent me.

SO,

with a whole pile of shit facing me what do i do?

Buy lotto.(Similar to 6D)


My ticket out of hell.

Why buy lotto?? Because if i win 4 million aussie dollars i wont have to pass up all those stuff i just mentioned.

Unfortunately, I didnt win.( well DUH!)

And i got a very stupid haircut, thats why im covering my face. Shit. Im not going to that chinatown barber again.

Me: Dont cut so much on the top ok.

Ah beng barber: Ok ok, I don't SCISSORS here.

I knew something was wrong when he cut my hair literally millimeter by millimeter..performing all kinds of funny scissors work and technique...@@

AH, nevermind. Cut already, paid 18 dollars for his lousy work.

Spent the rest of the day watching How I Met Your Mother and day dreaming about what i could do with 4 million dollars.

So heres a list of what i would do with 4 million aussie dollars IF I HAD WON today.


1. Immediately buy a first class ticket back to miri to tell my parents, meet up with friends. Fly back to Adelaide before monday.

2. Go to the motorbike shop behind my apartment and purchase my dream bike- Honda CBR 1000 rr

3. Ride my baby to the driving school, and pay the auntie 10,000 dollars to make me a license without sitting for the test.

4. Move out of the hostel, and buy a swanky apartment on North Terrace, just opposite of rundle mall. And like, 2 minutes walk away from school :)

5. Wait for the next weekend, fly back to malaysia. Pick up Phil from sandakan, connecting flight to taiwan first class. Party in taipei for the weekend.

yes brother, if i win lottery we will make our taiwan party dream a reality haha.

6. After partying and throwing money at pretty taiwanese leng luis in exclusive clubs, fly back to miri..make an annonymous donation of 1 million ringgit to St.Columba parish.

That way ill save myself from hell. Ok enough day dreaming. I want to do something more productive....like watching shutters for the 6th time.

Bye!

Confessions of a Camwhore King.

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....ok theres actually no YES and NO link ( i hope nobody actually tried clicking.. )my computer skill not so geng. So just view it lah.















Am i sexy? Tell me i am.

Ok bye!

Tuesday Blues.

I should really be reading up on todays Genetics lectures. But it just cant go in..

SO lets blog! :)

week 2 of the academic calendar, and things are already heating up.

Let me share my sorrow with you.

here's some of the things i have to read tonight and the whole of tomorrow.



The first journal related to my lab placement. ONE of many to come. I think eventually i would have to cite a minimum of 20-30 journals for my project summary T.T



The title of this paper is " Contribution of mGluR and Fmr1 functional pathways to neurite mophogenesis, cranofacial development and fragile x syndrome"

I can fall asleep by just reading the title ZZZZ..and if you take a good look, you can see that its written by my supervisors Dr Ben Tucker and Professor Rob Richards as well as Professor Lidelli (i dont report to this dude.)

But the thing is, scientists love to make fancy names for things.

I summarize the title for you in Joshua's English.

BRAIN GROWTH IS AFFECTED BY TWO THINGIES CALLED mGluR AND FMR1

see? much easier to understand..



Its 11 pages of scientific terms and confusing pictures. Out of respect to my supervisors, i wont call it crap. Because they took years of effort to publish this paper.

But honestly, it gave me a very bad headache. Since i have to know the research subject quite well in order to participate, i had to digest every SINGLE word and picture. Wikipedia is SOO useful when it comes to scientific terms.

I have other stuff to read as well.



" Difference in Receptor Usage between Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Coronavirus and SARS-Like Coronavirus of Bat Origin"

The only part of that sentence that made sense to me is "of Bat Origin."

It has something to do with bats! Yuhoo!

This paper is for my Infection and Immunity tutorial.

And then i have WHOLE STACKS of journals to read for Genetics..



ZOMG! SWT!WTF! KNS!KNNCCB!ORZ!

ok enough.

But i thank God that i finally found my soulmate to comfort me, to support me, to cheer me up when im down and to make me happy.

We understand each other so well, that its magical. That unexplainable feeling I get when our lips touch.

She makes me warm when im cold, and she brings me hope when theres none. I took me thousands of miles to find you, but it worth it :)

...

.......

.........

...........

..............



Oh my Carlton, I love you soo much.

Ok enough rubbish la. I have to read all that stuff i just showed you. Fark.

bye.

Battle of the Beers

Ok time for a serious blogging topic.

When youre a student in a foreign land, one of the most critical thing to do is to find the best booze in town.

So ive taken the liberty to sample some of the popular Australian brands..

INTRODUCING....



West End, Coopers Pale Ale and Carlton Draught.

We start with West End.



I first encountered this beer while watching an aussie football match in the stadium. Now i dont claim to be a beer expert, but all i can say is that this beer is relatively mild from what we are used to back home.



Taste wise it is more malt-ish than tiger and not quite as bitter.

The cheapest of the 3 beers, costing AUS$2.30 per 350ml "stubbie"



all gone!

Next on the list is Coopers Pale Ale



Personally this is my least favourite between the 3 beers. It is also the most expensive at AUS$2.90 per 350ml "stubbie"

I dunno why. I dont like the taste. I actually tried it at the recommendation of my canadian housemate who told me that it was the best beer in aussie. Not quite i guess.

So on to the final one.

Carlton.



This costs AUS$2.60 per stubbie. And in my opinion is the nicest one out of the 3. I really enjoy beers which are not very bitter and this is one of them. But what sets it apart is that nice malt taste. mmmmm.

So very OBVIOUSLY..the winner is carlton. (sounds like a badminton brand no??)



GIMME GIMME MORE!

-_____-

But to be honest, bottled or canned beers can never EVER beat tap beers la. Id rather spend money on good tap beers than buying loads of stubbies.

Public service annoucement:

"You better don't drink too much ah! because alcohol makes your brain stupid.."-mummy

Inspired.

It begins with the long and harsh silence.

When every hour is counted and felt, spent on useless whys and what ifs.

Then as the days and months pass,new memories will be made. And all the sweet happenings of the past, will slowly fade away.

Life becomes brighter, your heart feels lighter,and soon you'll find laughter.(hey that rhymes!)

And we begin to move on.

I will do as i always do, i will find somebody new.

And I hope sometime in the future,

you'll find your someone too.

Vivian Tan

FIRSTLY, so sorry that this is late. I have been rather busy with field trips and enrolment issues over the last few days.

Its not very often that people ask me to do a blog post for a birthday present so im not very sure what to write..so ill just write about the birthday girl haha.

A little history lesson.

I first met vivian when completing the first 2 years of my biomed degree at INTI Nilai.


september 2007 HAHAHA. Dr Ooi's Chemistry lab session doing some wetwork :)

My first impression of vivian is that she was a :

1. Quiet person
2. Shy
3. Well behaved
4. Well mannered
5. Lady like

That was before she opened her mouth.

After she opened her mouth, its a whole new scenario.

The revised version of the above list:

1. LOUD
2. Not shy/ Thick Face
3. Well behaved ONLY WHEN TIRED/ SLEEPY/ SEDATED
4. Well mannered when meeting someone new
5. Erm, no comments.

HAHahahaha.

Ok..enough making fun of you..its supposed to be your birthday present anyways.

To be honest, i had plenty of fun being in your company during the INTI years.



We were lab partners for semester 2. Tht pic was from Ms liew's MCB122 prac session, blood typing experiment hahaha.



The consequences..I remember you kept pulling your finger away at the last minute so i had to cheat you by shooting the lancet at 2 when i said id count to 3 hahaha.

And then there was tht trip to kuching i made..



Still remember this?? Bings, november 2007. MY FACE LOOKS LIKE A FUCKING PAU WITH THAT CARROT HAIR STYLE @@!

and that random trip to midvalley @#%^^!$



Initially was pissed coz i felt it was a waste of my time..but i eventually cooled down haha.


Was it sometihng to do with pancakes or baskin robbins?? I cant really remember anymore hahaha.

we were closer in the early sems, but i guess we couldnt spend as much time after i chose 2+1. coz i Had to do much more hours than you did. And i was frequently in bad mood due to the workload.



Pimp daddy and his 2 girls hahaha. Jz kidding..with michelle and vivian. Note my unhappy face, there was a slight misunderstanding few hours before :)

Moving on..

Your birthday ,almost 1 year ago.



I dont know if you know, but it was my idea to surprise you in secret recipe. Me jon and XN bought the present collectively at sunway pyramid after much discussion and plenty of hassle hahaha.



The planning was so last minute. Ran around class to get everyone to sign this before class ended.Mine is just above the balloons on the left hand side :D



Secret recipe @ nilai. The guys hiding behind the counter for your surprise haha. Luckily the staff was sporting. XD. And look at chun hao! wtf..hahaha.



For once you were still and quiet. And the cake slices were handpicked by me! wuhoo!


Secret recipe, july 21st 2008.

Before you left, i remember editing your personal statement which was erm....challenging :D. It was so hilarious that i saved the edited version for erm, posterity hahaha.

here's some of it

With each advancement in the field of biomedicine, comes the need and demand for biomedical scientists. Personally, this field interests me mainly because of my love for Biology. I was born and bred in a town located in the heart of Borneo called Kuching; a place of harmony, tranquillity and serenity. I grew up as an inquisitive child, and biology was always the answer to many of my questions regarding nature as its many wonders never ceased to amaze me. As i matured and continued reading biology at the secondary level of education, the cellular mechanisms of living organisms greatly interested me, and my passion to learn more has increased ever since.

what.total. BULLSHIT. HAHAHAHAAH

Sem 3 was the last sem you were in malaysia. By september 2008, you were 7000kms away in Newcastle. But that didnt prevent your ngongness from infecting me.



SO SCARY! hahahaha. I knew i kept that stupid screenshot somewhere on my hard disk..

and so its been close to a year now since i last saw you in person. Time really flies huh. And by the look of things, we would probably only meet after we graduate.

A single blog post isnt really enough to list down all the stuff and shits tht happened. And like any friendship, weve been through many ups and downs. Fights and laughter, sadness and joy. Sometimes i wanted to kill you. Sometimes you wanted to kill me hahaha. But tht would never change the fact that you remain one of the most special friends that i have.

All the best for your final year. Study hard, don't pray pray. I might not be able to save you like i did for your case studies coz id be so fucking busy with my final year stuff as well @@. Believe you can do it. You're not stupid. and no, you're not retarded either . I honestly believe that you have what it takes if you dig deep and never give up.

okkkkkkkk i can hear you say " HAIYAH SUI BIAN NAH! HEN MA FARN AR NI AH BEAR! *STRESS*

oh ya one last thing..



Micheal says G'DAY MATE! all the way from Adelaide, South Australia. :D

Ill see you when i see you :).